Posted on 04/18/2006 3:26:57 AM PDT by Mad-Margaret
DURHAM -- A day after a grand jury indicted two Duke University lacrosse players in connection with a reported rape, two men emerged from a sheriff's deputy vehicle and were led, handcuffed, into the magistrates office at the Durham County Jail at 4:54 a.m. today.
The arrests stem from a party that began March 13. The accuser, who is a mother of two, an N.C. Central University student and an escort service dancer, told police March 14 that she was sexually assaulted by three men in a bathroom at an off-campus house shared by three lacrosse team captains. The accuser is black; she said her rapists were white.
Defense lawyers said players maintained that there was no sex at all. They said the accuser concocted the story, that she was drunk and injured late March 13 when she arrived at the three-bedroom house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.
"... Two young men have been charged with crimes they did not commit. This is a tragedy," Bob Ekstrand, who represents team players, said Monday in a prepared statement. "For the two young men, an ordeal lies ahead. They do not face it alone; they face it with the love of family and friends and strengthened by the truth. They are both innocent."
Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens sealed a manila envelope containing the indictments shortly after the grand jury finished its business Monday. The judge cited a state law that requires everyone involved in a case, including witnesses, to keep the indictment secret until a suspect is arrested.
Last month, a judge ordered DNA tests on the team's 46 white players; he excluded the only black team member. The players' attorneys say the tests showed none of the players' genetic material on or in the woman.
Nifong, bolstered by a medical exam that found injuries on the woman consistent with sexual assault, says he is confident that she was assaulted in the university-owned house. Nifong said last week at a forum at NCCU that the accuser identified at least one of her attackers.
Until Sunday night, the only other witness, the second woman hired to dance at the party, had remained silent. In television interviews, she told her story.
The woman's attorney, Mark Simeon of Durham, declined Monday to make her available for an interview. She spoke on the MSNBC cable news network, which did not identify her and showed her in silhouette. Simeon confirmed that it was his client on MSNBC.
The woman told MSNBC that she did not witness a rape and does not know whether one occurred.
The woman said she arrived thinking that she would be dancing at a bachelor party of 15 people. She was not expecting a party of lacrosse players, many of whom she said were in a drunken stupor. The woman said she was infuriated to learn that some players photographed her dancing.
The accuser did not appear to be on drugs or to have been drinking when she arrived, the second dancer said. She was "absolutely fine and in control of herself."
When the accuser left, less than an hour after she arrived, she was incoherent and stumbling, the second dancer said.
"She couldn't really walk on her own," the woman said. "She really couldn't get her thoughts together enough to answer any questions. ... She was a different person than I met at the beginning."
The second woman said she was the person who called 911 as the party was breaking up, to complain that some lacrosse players had used racial slurs. "The boys hollered the 'N' word," she said. "I was upset and called 911."
She said she pretended to be a passer-by because she didn't want people in her life to know about her job as an escort service dancer.
It is unclear how that woman's story would affect the case. Players' attorneys have said she would only help them. By day's end Monday, Nifong left without talking to reporters; it remains unclear what evidence he has.
Throughout Monday, there were many more reporters on the sixth floor of the courthouse than the 18 members of the grand jury panel. Reporters tracked the district attorney's movements in minute detail. Just after noon, Nifong emerged from his office and walked across the hallway to the bathroom.
Reporters surrounded the bathroom door in a crowd that included five television cameras, three still photographers, sound men with boom microphones and at least a dozen print reporters. At the sound of flushing, the group tensed, raised cameras and prepared. Nifong did not emerge with news.
"I no longer get to go anywhere in my community without people knowing who I am," said Nifong, who faces two challengers in a primary election May 2. Staff writer Anne Blythe can be reached at 932-8741 or ablythe@newsobserver.com.
Issues, you've got issues, you've got stacks and stacks of MAJOR issues.
Sounds like you're mad at YOUR mama and daddy because they either wouldn't or couldn't give you all that.
Can't females tell the difference even if unseen?
Good grief. I don't even KNOW anybody who's ever BEEN to jail for anything.
I vote for "the abibi is a little too convienent - it's obvious it was staged". Of course the Scot Peterson comparison will come up.
Sorry, I have my own business, do better than most, have accumulated more than most, and did so on my own, hustling, going door to door, and not relying on people to put me places I did not put myself.
I admire go getters, doers, people who have initiative, people who have spunk, guts, and drive.
So, you are wrong, like usual, and have not a clue about what you are talking about.
Even ABC has a story about the alibi:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1617291/posts
I notice on your home page that you're into self-defense. You seem to have the notion that everybody else is out to get you, to screw you, to put you down, to squeeze you into a corner.
Perhaps you get that because that's what you expect. I've been in sales for 30 years, and I treat others well, listen to what they have to say, show them the respect they deserve, and am honest with them.
As a result, I've had a lot of success and made some lifelong friends in business. I've never been stomped, kicked, punched, or bashed, either literally or figuratively, because I've never given anybody cause to treat me that way.
Life seems to be a war, to you. Maybe that's why you're a lawyer.
ROFLOL!!!!
I agree Jeff, Scott Peterson is only a syllabel away on
Nancy's show.
I suppose if someone doesn't want a struggle, you'd have to hold a gun. I don't think they'd be THAT dumb.
I am just sick of that whole bunch.
One of my friends' GF is from Purchase, NY, .00000000000001 of the population. Her bothers, 20 y/o, go to the day spa with the mother for pedicure and manicure. That is what I can't stand. A bunch of wimps and panzies. They are so pathetic.
Definately, so where's the DNA? Cyborg mentioned she might have been raped by some other means than physical intercourse like a broomstick or something. Trying to make the point that's why there would have been no DNA, but I think even if an object would have been used there would still be some DNA. In other words she was raped without being physically handled. (Arms held or held down.) I doubt that could happen.
Get a load of this. The ABC article says the judge will have to decide whether Finnerty's brush with the law in DC will be allowed into trial in NC.
So the stripper's sexual history can't be discussed, but the accused can (if the judge so decides) have his background ripped to shreds.
Oh, man, you should have heard the attorneys on the local news!
They are furious; they said that after seeing Nifong's evidence cannot believe he went forward with these indictments.
And they are ALL going to work as a team now -- to not only defend the two boys, but to prove them innnocence!
Like I said, I be out of place in the "Heartland" because that is not my experience. However, were I to venture out there for college or something, I would be smart enough to know not drag attention to myself like these kids did.
Just from a money point of view, isn't it just dumb to risk arrest when scholarship money may be at stake?
Why does what these people do bother you so much?
Are you afraid you might be gay?
Never mind her sexual history; her criminal one will be enough.
Rita Cosby said today that she has had major alcohol problems in the past.
That is cool and all, but respectfully, your posts give the impression that you have a pent up anger toward kids of wealthy parents that won't have to work as hard as you did.
That is ironic as you stated that you hate it when people complain about life being unfair.
The fact is that some people are dealt a better hand than others. Some have good parents, some have bad parents, some have poor parents and some have wealthy parents. That's just life and it's nothing to be angry about.
Covers my eyes
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